Does this scenario sound familiar: You somehow find yourself with a big box of photos – maybe they are your photos, or perhaps you inherited them. Then you find some photo albums in the back of a closet. Maybe a long-forgotten crate of negatives and slides appears in your mom’s attic. You know many of these items – like wedding portraits and childhood photos – tell a story of your family and deserve better than to be stored in an old banker’s box. But you also know that some of them – duplicates, those out-of-focus or overexposed – need to be tossed. You don't want to pass along the mess that you've been given. But where do you start on a photo organizing project? First ask yourself a few questions.
What does the end result look like? Do you want important items identified and stored in acid-free archival-quality storage boxes? Are you interested in making a photo book or placing items in photo albums? Do you want to convert everything to digital and share photos electronically with family members?
Do you prefer to sort chronologically by year – or does by family, person or event make more sense?
Would anyone else enjoy receiving extra or duplicate photos that you no longer want to be responsible for?
By asking yourself these few questions you will quickly determine your goals. Just by answering the ones above you could have identified the following goals:
Share the photo collection with family members
Make creative gifts as holiday presents
Frame and display items in your home
Finally gather all photos in one place
Store items in archival-quality storage boxes
Convert some or all photos to digital format
Create electronic back-up of the most important items
Want to know more about organizing photos? Contact me at (608) 345-1836 or melanie@resetorganizing.com to get started.
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